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Buying into Woodberry. 

Every neighborhood in Baltimore reminds me of somewhere else I’ve lived.  Parts of Loch Raven Boulevard remind me of Elysian Fields in New Orleans.  Wyman Park reminds me of a bucolic section of Midtown Memphis near the Brooks Museum of Art.  Fells Point is a bit like Temescal in the northern part of Oakland, CA, full of restaurants and bars and a short distance from UC Berkeley.  Woodberry reminds me of the Lorin District in South Berkeley.  (Of course, Lorin is in Berkeley and Woodberry is in Baltimore, so allow for the obvious dissimilarities.)  Still, Rockrose Avenue and Seneca Street in Woodberry are reminiscent of the hilly topography of Berkley, CA.

DSC_1292Woodberry is comprised of five mini neighborhoods:  Woodberry/TV Hill, Park Hill, Greenspring Trails, Clipper Mill and Brick Hill.  According to the Live Baltimore website, “The physical isolation of Woodberry, along with the original residen[ts’] dependence on the mills helped give the area an identity unique to Baltimore.”

Brick Hill, comprised of only three streets is the most secluded mini in Woodberry.  Once there, you can hardly tell you’re in Baltimore or any city for that matter.  You don’t pass through Brick Hill because there is no way out; all the streets dead end, so you leave the same way you entered.  The last house that sold in Brick Hill was in 2013 and, before that, 2005.  In fact, the local Multi-Listing Service report only three sales since 1998.  I guess the people who move there never leave.

DSC_1344As for the rest of Woodberry, every foreclosure and REO in the last six months has sold at or considerably above list price.  Currently, there are only seven homes for sale in Woodberry ranging from $72K for a duplex to $375K (the latter for both sides of a gutted stone duplex turn into one residence).  The absorption rate* for this part of Woodberry has dropped from 111 days in the last year to 84 days now.  This is clearly a seller’s market.

Clipper Mill is already fully developed so “ground-floor opportunity” is no longer there.   But the area where Druid Park Drive, Hooper Avenue and W. 41st Street converge appears to be ripe with opportunity, both residential and commercial.   Although Clipper Mill is already one of the hippest neighborhoods in Baltimore, the rest of Woodberry appears to be one wine bar or organic donut shop away from becoming the next “IT” place to live.

DSC_1272I’m Greg Bridges and I sell and write about real estate in the Baltimore area.  410-215-0565 or g.bridges@lnf.com

*The rate at which available homes are sold in a specific real estate market during a given time period.

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    email: g.bridges@lnf.com
    tele: 410 . 215 . 0565